How To Wash Gi? Get The Best Ideas For Your Karate, Bjj, Or Jiu-Jitsu Gi!

how to wash gi | washing gi

Whether you’re a beginner or advanced learner of martial arts, it is a must for everyone to wear a gi. Besides your practice, you also need to keep your gi clean. How to wash gi is a big question to most practitioners.

I’m practicing Karate for the last 6 years. So, I’m excited to share some valuable tips about washing Gi with you. To help you with the best steps to wash, clean and dry your gi, I have created this comprehensive post that will guide you completely. So, let’s start.  

How To Wash Gi Step By Step? A Complete Guideline For You!

Listed below are 7 top tips you can follow to wash your gi.

1. Don’t Keep The Gi In A Bag After The Training Session

Yes, you heard right. It is never a good idea to keep your gi in your bag but sometimes, practitioners leave their gi in their bags after reaching home.

If you start taking a shower or dinner, forgetting your gi in your bag for a day or two, it can ruin your gi.

It is because your gi can develop bacteria and germs staying in the bag for long and when your bag is moist, damp, and no airflow is getting into it, the gi will smell bad.

So, when you reach home, make sure you put the gi in your washing machine.

Also, if you don’t have time to machine wash, you can put your gi in a particular place, taking it out of the bag. The best tip is you must wash a gi after reaching your home from the class.

2. Wash Your Gi After Wearing Each Time

Although you might not think about washing it every time after wearing it because it is big compared to running shorts, don’t make this mistake.

It would help if you washed your gi every time you wore it and returned it. No matter if you have joined a training institute or practiced Karate at home, you have worn it for almost an hour and you were sweating a lot while practicing.

Sometimes, you may think that your gi is OK, but your partner won’t find it comfortable to join you. 

3. Avoid Hot Water

Washing machines available nowadays don’t include an option for cold water. You should consider this point. You must not use the hot water setting to wash your gi.

Although compared to the tumble dryer, using hot water is not very bad, but still, hot water will shrink and warp the gi.

Sometimes hot water helps to get foul odours out. So, use it once only if you find it working.

4. Using Bleach Is Not Allowed

Bleach will pull out a stain no matter how challenging it is, but it can cost you something. The use of bleach weakens the gi’s fabric. After becoming too weak, your gi will fray.

Unfortunately, when a gi starts to fray, you can’t repair it anyway because it needs some reinforced and micro stitching. And, most probably, you don’t have such skills to repair your gi.

Considering home remedies is always the best option if you find an odd stain on the gi. 

5. Say No To Tumble Dryer

Use of a tumble dryer means killing your gi. Why? Most of the gis include rubber stuff that you may not know before. Your gi may itself start shrinking in the tumble dryer.

For any rubbery material, using a tumble dryer is like the death penalty. Once your gi is warped, it can’t be repaired. It curls up and becomes unusable.

6. Hang Dry

If you want to ensure the longevity of your gi, hang drying is the best option. Many tumble dries tend to break your gi’s fabric down. That’s why hang dry must be used. You can hang your gi somewhat away from the scorching sun.

Direct sunlight can dry out your gi, and even the fabric will weaken. So, always stay away from hanging your gi in the direct sunlight without washing. If you do so, the sweat will start baking in your gi.

7. Don’t Wash Gi With Other Clothes

Most often we tend to wash the gi with other clothes but it can ruin the color of your gi. A gi has a high chance of ruining its color because colors discharged from other clothes may make it catch color stains. So, make sure you wash your gi separately for stain removal and avoiding color mixing. 

How To Dry A Gi?

Hang dry is always suggested. As we discussed above, putting your gi in something hot will deteriorate its material or shrink it. 

Avoid using your dryer if you have colored or white gis. You can follow a few steps to make the process of drying your gi easier. For the best hang drying experience, check out the tips below.

  1. Consider putting a gi in the sunlight (not the scorching sun). Sunlight is full of UV rays that will kill bacteria in your gi. But if you put the gi in a dark area, it will take a long time to dry. The sun lamp can work best to dry your gi if you reside in a place with insufficient sunlight. However, never let the sunlight fry your gi.
  2. When you usually use your window to dry your gi, make sure to keep the window open so that the breeze can dry your gi off faster.
  3. If you find it difficult to dry your gi in time or before your class, then it is wise to purchase two gis. This idea can also make the gis last pretty longer.

How To Take Care Of Gi? Top Five Tips For Wash, Dry & Routine Maintenance!

There are some fundamental tips on taking care of your gi, no matter if it is a karate gi, BJJ gi, jiu-jitsu gi, black gi, white gi, or blue gi. You can apply these rules to take care of your uniforms. Check out the tips below.

  1. Don’t leave your gi for many days. If you don’t have time to wash it, you can hang it to dry it.
  2. Turn the gi inside out. More dirt remains inside compared to outside. And, this way, you can protect the colors also.
  3. Use cold water (from 30 to 40° Celsius) for washing your gi properly.
  4. Do not use ordinary washing liquids or powders. These will interrupt the airflow in your gi. Something made especially for your gi such as Rockin’ Green, Win Sports Detergent, or Tide PODS+ can be the best option.
  5. Stay away from using bleach and dryers.

Final Thoughts

From the discussion above, hopefully, now you know how to wash gi step by step. Follow the steps and tips to make your gi last longer.

Share This Post
Span Chen
Span Chen
I have been practicing karate for more than 6 years, and now at the sixth level (green belt) of the Okinawa Goju-Ryu Karatedo Kugekai. Though I haven’t earned my Black Belt yet, I am deeply passionate about my training.